Oregon Wildlands Act

The most notable legislation is a scaled-down version of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s Oregon Wildlands Act.

The bill would create the 30,000-acre Devil’s Staircase Wilderness, applying the highest form of environmental protection to a remote patch of old-growth forest in the Coast Range northeast of Reedsport.

Advocates have tried for more than a decade to protect the area, which gets its name from a multi-tiered waterfall on Wassen Creek.

The bill also designates more than 200 miles of Oregon rivers under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, limiting development along the streams, and protects southwest Oregon’s Chetco River from mining, Wyden said.

In a floor speech, Wyden dedicated the bill to former Oregon governor Tom McCall, who championed environmental protection.

“Nobody understood better than McCall that protecting public treasures shouldn’t be a partisan proposal,” Wyden told the Statesman Journal in a phone interview. “In a day and age when it sometimes feels as though that sense of common purpose around public lands is slipping away, I’m hoping this bill is a sign of it coming back.”

Yet even attaching the Oregon Wildlands Act to the public lands package became a partisan battle.

After objections by Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, Wyden was forced to drop provisions that would have added 188,000 acres of wilderness and new recreation areas around the Rogue and Molalla rivers.

“The wildlands bill seeks to lock up more than 200,000 acres of land, increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfire,” Walden spokesman Justin Discigil told the Statesman Journal in December.

Wyden said he was pleased with passage of even the limited bill and would return to fight for the Rogue and Molalla pieces. He also pointed out that if approved, Oregon would have the most wild and scenic river miles in the Lower 48.

Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio took the long and difficult journey into the proposed Devil's Staircase Wilderness. He has authored multiple bills that would protect the area under the Wilderness Act. Photo by Andy Stahl

Local reaction

Oregon environmental groups that had long fought for the legislation cheered the passage.

“It is now up to the House to ensure that this amazing landscape, the unique waterfalls, crystal clear waters, and old-growth giants are protected as a legacy for all Oregonians,” Chandra LeGue of Oregon Wild said.

Groups that favor more active management of forests opposed the plan. Nick Smith, executive director of the group Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities said the bill would make access more difficult in fighting wildfires.

"Several troubling components have been removed from the bill, but the legislation will still impact fire prone forests in Western Oregon and will make public access, fire prevention, forest health treatments, as well as response more difficult for emergency personnel," Smith said.

Oregon provisions in public lands bills

Other bills in the package include Oregon Rep. Greg Walden’s Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act, which removes 688 acres from a Wilderness Study Area to allow for better wildfire protection of the unincorporated community of 5,000 north of Bend.

“In central Oregon, the 5,000 residents of Crooked River Ranch are worried they will become the next Paradise, California,” Walden said in a December statement. “I’ve worked with the community there on a simple public safety bill.”

Finally, the package includes legislation honoring the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area Designation Act.

It “designates nearly 100,000 acres of Forest Service land north of the North Umpqua River as the ‘Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area’ and ensures the river, and the surrounding area, will protect steelhead habitat and preserve recreation opportunities for generations to come," Wyden said.

Frank Moore returned to the North Umpqua after serving in the European theatre during World War II and settled there with Jeanne, guiding generations of fishers on the river, Wyden’s news release said.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

On a national level, the package reauthorizes the recently-expired Land and Water Conservation Fund, permanently.

The fund takes revenue from oil and gas drilling to support a wide range of conservation projects.

Details of Oregon Wildlands Act

- Permanently protects Chetco River from mining and mineral extraction.

- Designates 250 miles of Oregon salmon and steelhead-producing rivers and streams as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, including: about 120 miles of Rogue River tributaries; a 21-mile stretch of the Molalla River; 18 miles of Jenny Creek, which flows through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; 15 miles of Wasson Creek and Franklin Creek in the Siuslaw National Forest; and several important tributaries of the Elk River.

- Protects additional 40 miles of Rogue River tributaries from mining and future dam installations.